Spurs celebrate one that didn’t get away

The Houston Rockets began Saturday night’s game without Yao Ming, the second half without Aaron Brooks and the fourth quarter without Kevin Martin.

Had they lost Luis Scola for the start of overtime, the Spurs really might have been in trouble.

Perhaps lulled into a false sense of security after taking a 14-point second-half lead on a Rockets team becoming more shorthanded by the second, the Spurs had to make a handful of gut-check plays down the stretch just to force OT.

Once there, the Spurs again found just enough magic to keep Houston winless with a 124-121 victory in another wild night at the AT&T Center.

“I thought we absolutely lost our focus,” Spurs coach Gregg Popovich said. “Once you do that, it’s tough to get it back.”

Behind 28 points from Manu Ginobili, a big overtime from Tony Parker and another stellar game from the resurgent Richard Jefferson, the Spurs sent Houston to 0-5, matching its worst start since 1999-2000.

For the Spurs (4-1), the win did not come as easy as it might have.

For months leading up to the season, players talked about a desire to keep from giving away winnable games early in the season.

Had the Spurs stumbled Saturday, this would have been one stuck in permanent memory loop.

“We would be talking about it in three months, tomorrow, next week and in a month,” Ginobili said.

In three months, or even next week, the details of the victory won’t matter, just the outcome.

Here are the facts, for now: Yao did not play, as Rockets coach Rick Adelman opted to sit him on the front end of a back-to-back.

Brooks left with a sprained ankle — and 18 points — after landing on Ginobili’s foot on the final play of the first half. Martin left less than four minutes into the third quarter, after he tumbled on a drive. He still finished as Houston’s leading scorer (24 points).

And yet Houston, left for roadkill after the Spurs’ 20-10 run to start the third put them in a 14-point hole, took a four-point lead into the final minute of regulation.

It seems after the Rockets lost their guards, the Spurs let down theirs.

“We have no excuse,” said Tony Parker, who finished with 21 points, 14 assists and five steals, and was the Spurs’ savior in OT. “We let them back in the game. And then, we had a fight.”

The happy news in the Spurs’ locker room was that at least they won that fight.

With the Spurs down 113-109 in the last minute, Antonio McDyess rejected Ishmael Smith — Brooks’ replacement — to set up a Jefferson layup, the capper on a 22-point night.

After Courtney Lee missed two foul shots on the other end, Ginobili sent the game into OT with a difficult 16-footer with 9.5 ticks to go.

“We got back to doing the competing that needs to be done in an NBA game,” Popovich said.

Parker took over in OT, scoring the Spurs’ first seven points. Still, they needed a go-ahead basket from Tim Duncan — who finished with 19 points and 11 rebounds — off a Parker assist to take a 122-121 edge with 22.9 seconds left.

Ginobili put the Spurs ahead by three with a pair of foul shots. And still the Rockets were not done.

In the final 14.3 seconds, Houston had three looks at a game-tying 3 — from Shane Battier, Lee and Scola — but could not get them to fall. That’s the way the ball bounces when you’re winless.

For the Spurs, it felt like a game they might have lost at the beginning of last season, then bemoaned at the end.

Instead, it was a victory that might soon be forgotten. Sometimes, those are the best kind.

“I’m happy we ended up with a win, because this is the kind of loss that would really matter in March,” Parker said. “We learned from it, and we’ll play better next game.”

Jeff McDonald

10 Responses

HARR while the ultimate goal is a championship the Spurs are bent on improving as the season goes on and they take a realistic view of things and that has helped them in their approach to winning especially in their championship seasons. My point is that when the Spurs have lost while getting far into the playoffs and not winning a ring, they didn’t respond by breaking up the team. They took it with stride. I have heard Pop say many times that there is only one team in 30 that will win, so the odds are stacked against you. They realize that they are not the best and concentrate on a game to game basis and not this view of worrying whether they will get to the finals at this point of the season. That’s a fact. If they took this approach that you and others do of this lynch pin around their necks they would never be able to survive and prosper. This is not the Cowboys and this view of talking about Super bowl before the season starts and this is not the Yankees where it’s all or nothing and if not the series then we are going to shake things up. The Spurs are more about a consistent effort of getting better and focusing on what’s right ahead of them and being realistic about their chances as opposed to we aren’t going to be able to get into the finals and how you think. I know alot of fans think like you and think that the Spurs view things like this but right now Pop thinks they will be able to potentially contend with anyone if they continue to improve. As I said before, I am not saying the team will stay intact and that a trade won’t occur but it will have to make plenty of sense for them to improve in order to do it. Let’s see if they continue to win and how they do against the better teams.

hoops im just saying i want the spurs to improve on defense.i wouldnt trade splitter,neal or anderson.i have seen good things from anderson on the defensive end and neal is a good shooter.the spurs know better then anyone that you cant just outscore every team and more so in the playoffs.the spurs dont hang their hats on getting deep into the playoffs,they aim for championships.when the spurs start playing the better teams in the league we will have a better understanding of where this team is.im just saying if the spurs wanna be a good defensive team then we need better defenders.

JHARR I agree with you that the Spurs have the guys to improve on D and that we need to do that in order to make a serious run, however your notion of trading O for some D is ridiculous at this point. It’s so early in the season and we will continue to improve as the season goes on. Perhaps there will be a trade before the guaranteed contract deadline but I’m doubtful that it will include Splitter, Neal or Anderson or any of the vets. Your look at things is contradictory to that of the Spurs and there mantra of pounding the stone. We have a good squad and we have to develop it rather than taking a defeatist attitude of not being able to win a ring. I’ve harped on that there is only 1 in 30 teams that will win a ring and it’s also real easy to think or acknowledge that we arent as good as the Lakers at this point. But this squad is the strongest we have had since 07 and could very well go far into the playoffs. The Spurs approach the season on a game to game basis and if they take care of business they will have a higher seeding in the playoffs and at that point they will concentrate on each series as they arise. This is opposed to your jumping the gun and the defeatist attitude that you have that the spurs aren’t good enough. With that said, I don’t think that Spurs are opposed to improving the team if it makes sense trade wise, and your naysaying is really easy for you to say I told you so if the Spurs don’t win and the same could be said of the other 28 teams that won’t win the ring and if you are arguing your point on behalf of them. As for Parker getting beat on D, it’s more on the defensive rotations when he gets beat on the screen. He is also known to be able to keep up with any PG keeping up with them through out the entire full court. I don’t buy that opinion, and just ask to see the glass half full and that he is playing very well thus far and we are winning. Stop harping on the teams that we have beat. You see everything negatively.

insidehoops i love my spurs.ok tim had 3 blocks,but,teams are still getting into the lane and finishing over our bigs….i for one dont think the spurs have the guys to improve to much on defense and,as everyone knows defense wins rings.yes i think splitter will help and the team will get better,just not on the level it needs to be.if we are talking about making a run at the title then pop needs to shake up the roster…trade some O for some D.im happy tp is getting more assist this year,so far,but im also tired of seeing him chasing every other point gaurd around while they light him up.if fans wanna be happy barely getting wins over GREAT TEAMS like the pacers,the rockets without yao,the suns who will struggle just to get into the playoffs,the clips nuff said there,then so be it.

As Pop has said this is only the beginning of the season and it’s the goal of every team to get better as the playoffs approach. The Spurs did let up on D, missed rotations, had turnovers and they need to tighten up there. Someone mentioned that we don’t have a dominant shot blocker and I have to laugh because of TD’s 3 blocks and the fact that it’s apparent that his presence still thwarts opposing players. Alot of what I read here are people focusing on the negative, even when we do win and other than us faltering on team D, the team played pretty well. To the people who call out TP with their “it seems to me as though TP isn’t playing well”, talk about dwelling on the negative. TP was responsible pretty much for the win last night. He shot 8/17, had 14 assists and 5 steals and people are still complaining and looking at things negatively. Sure go ahead and complain but what do you say we do?? Get rid of TD and TP?? Maybe Manu?? LOL Yes there are missed rotations and turnovers, but is anyone talking about that the Spurs are 2nd in the league in team assists, 3rd in points production and 4th in FG%. Instead people are focusing on Splitter not being the dominant force we thought he’d be when he didn’t play at all pre-season and it’s apparent that he’s not in shape, gets winded easily and it will be some time before he starts seeing extended minutes. This taking it to another level that fans are asking for doesn’t come overnight, especially when we have several new and 2nd year players. Instead of not having confidence, have confidence as the big 3 and RJ are all healthy and playing well and we are 4-1. Pop is playing new guys that have shown that they can produce and you just got to love Dice… 5/8 and 10 boards. Keep up that productivity and I want him back next year.

Winning ugly is good. That is what we did every year we won a Championship. Tiago is going to be a solid role players after he get’s most of the season behind him. He is on a major learning curve. This team will get much better as the season goes on. The nice thing even though it is not pretty, it is a WIN. Last year we had to many games we were losing early. That really hurt us at the end of the year, when we went on that nice run. We ended up being a low seed for the playoff’s. RJ is really playing with more confidence and swagger, that is great to see. As the young guns come along we are going to be very good. Staying Healthy is a Key to any team. We missed James Anderson last night and he will be fired up after having his Baby Girl. ( Congrates James )Keep Pounding on the Rcok !!

Good the Spurs won but it was an ugly win and does not inspire alot of confidence. Not when Yao was out and then Brooks and Martin get hurt, the backups and rookies were killing the Spurs, and yeah Tony played well but he almost singlehandedly lost the game for us too when he had three turnovers in a row in the forth quarter. Manu played great but he too had four turnovers. RJ continues his offensive surge, I say ride that horse all the way, let’s see how far he can take us, he was hot again but too many times he was wide open on the corner and Tony refused to get him the ball instead opting for the pick and roll with Tim that rarely worked. Finally our defense suxs, can’t put it any better than that. We are not going to get away with more wins from second and third stringers, especially the elite teams unless we improve our team defense. I don’t think we necessarily need a dominant shot blocker like jharr said, but we do need much better TEAM defense. I could see where we missed Anderson last nite and Splitter took a step back in minutes played. The Bobcats and Steven Jackson has always given the Spurs some problems so I’m not too confident going into this next game unless we really step it up. Come on Spurs, it’s time to take it to another level. GSG!

spurs have an easy schedule right now,they need to get their defense going.it seems teams know they can get a shot off if they get close to the rim,cause the spurs have no shot blockers.dyess,tim and blair will get some blocks here and there but nothing thats going to scare guys to not drive to the hoop.from what ive seen from spliter so far he wont be the rim protector i think we need.i do think guys like splitter and anderson are gonna be decent defenders just not the lock down guys.since we are winning games without the great matt bonner maybe pop will trade him for a better defender…..YEAH RIGHT!!!if pop wants to play great defense then he needs to have guys who can play good defense…i understand it takes a team to play good d but you still need guys who can defend and protect the rim.